Screening for probiotic characters in lactobacilli isolated from chickens revealed the intra-species diversity of Lactobacillus brevis

Considering the importance of the poultry industry and the increasing interest in alternative growth promoters, probiotics are considered as a potential candidate for use in the poultry industry. In this study, Lactobacillus species were isolated from 21 rectal swabs of 11 healthy 6-day-old and 10 healthy 21-day-old chickens and their fecal and feed samples. The isolates were characterized and their probiotic characteristics, including resistance to gastric acid and bile salts, biofilm formation and adherence to epithelium or mucus, amylase and protease activity and production of inhibitory compounds, were assessed. From 31 acid and bile resistant lactobacilli, only 2 Lactobacillus brevis and 1 Lactobacillus reuteri strains showed significant probiotic properties. These isolates indicated detectable attachment to Caco-2 cells and significant antibacterial activities against Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens. Additionally, phenotypic and genotypic diversity of lactobacilli isolates were studied by Phene Plate (PhP) system (PhP-LB) and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR, respectively. PhP-LB results of 24 L. brevis isolates showed a high phenotypic variation among the isolates. In comparison, results of RAPD-PCR highlighted a low diversity. Therefore, it seems that combination of the 2 techniques (PhP and RAPD-PCR) could result in a significant discriminatory power than each of them used alone.